Germantowngaz102313 by The Gazette

THE GAZETTE

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 g

Page A-13

Community Service Week lets residents help in hundreds of ways n

Last year, 2,000 people volunteered their time BY

PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER

Montgomery County residents are invited to ﬂex their do-good muscles this week by volunteering to make their community a better place. Oct. 20 through 27 is the county’s Community Service Week, a time for nonprofits, business, religious, service and social groups to host volunteer service projects. Many have registered online with the Montgomery County Volunteer Center www.montgomeryserve. org, a website to connect individuals and groups with service opportunities. “We do these days of service to celebrate service and get people engaged,” said Katie Sayago, Days of Service coordinator for the volunteer center. “We hope people really connect with an

organization and have the feeling of working together.” Sayago said there are more than 50 projects listed on the volunteer website and many of them require a number of people. “There are lots of ways to still get involved,” she said. Some opportunities include are a diaper distribution project with the D.C. Diaper Bank that is taking place in the Bank’s Silver Spring warehouse; a sandwichmaking day at the International Cultural Center in Montgomery Village and collecting acorns with the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, she said. “We give [the acorns] to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources state tree nursery to plant,” said Kimberly Knox, spokeswoman for the commission. DNR then distributes the seedlings for planting throughout the state, she said. Acorn collecting will take place from 9 a.m. to noon at the

PEGGY MCEWAN/THE GAZETTE

Volunteers from The Foundation School worked to clean up outside the ofﬁces of On Our Own in Gaithersburg on Monday as part of Montgomery County’s Community Service Week. Triadelphia Recreation Area in Brookeville on Saturday and at Browns Bridge Recreation Area in Silver Spring on Sunday. The D.C. Diaper Bank will be sorting and bundling diapers from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Satur-

day. “It’s a great family affair, even little kids can do it,” Heather Foley, chairwoman of the board of D.C. Diapers, said. “It involves counting and coloring labels and we have a play area for when they get tired of

working.” The group, she said, distributes approximately 50,000 diapers a month to social service agencies across the D.C. area. The diapers come from donations and the group purchases many with money from grants and “the general good will of the community,” she said. Community Service Week kicked off this year with the World of Montgomery festival at Westﬁeld Wheaton Plaza Mall which had a community service area for children and adults to show their commitment to the community by participating in on-site projects. Among the hands-on opportunities at the World of Montgomery were: sandwich-making sponsored by So What Else, a nonproﬁt that provides services to at risk youth in the Washington metropolitan area; letterwriting to U.S. troops abroad sponsored by Mover Moms of Bethesda and a demonstration from Bikes for the World.

Many of the week’s volunteer activities are scheduled for Saturday, the 27th Day of Service in the county, which aligns with National Make a Difference Day, Sayago said. Last year, about 2,000 people participated in projects during the week leading up to the Day of Service, Sayago said in an email. “The Volunteer Center engaged residents in volunteer projects throughout Montgomery County for Community Service Day with projects available the week of Oct. 22-28 [2012], 75 organizations were involved in 85 projects to engage new and ongoing volunteers to make an impact in our county and 1,959 residents volunteered 6,167.5 hours for Community Service Day. Also 32,000 lbs. of food was collected over Community Service Day weekend at Giant Grocery Stores for Manna Food Center,” she wrote. pmcewan@gazette.net 1894887

Co-Chair Rana Shaikh Co-Chair Edward Yip Chair Emeritus Secretary Edward Chow Committee Members Pavan Arthur Bezwada Keat Bhutani Charina Chatman Amy Fowler Jesse Gatchalian Elizabeth Hines Humberto Ho Michael Kabik Sheila Khatri Minh Le Rita Lee Dottie Li Carol Nakhuda Devang Shah Afgen Sheikh Yi Shen Grace Valera-Jaramillo Beth Wong Diosa B.G. Woods Yun Jung Yang

You Are Invited To The 2013 Maryland Asian American Business Conference Jointly Hosted By The Governor’s Commission on Asian Pacific Affairs and The Governors Commission on South Asian Affairs

Pre-Conference Networking Dinner Date: October 28, 2013, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Location:New Fortune Restaurant 16515 South Frederick Avenue Gaithersburg, Maryland Cost: $45.00 Asian American Business Conference (AABC) Date: October 29, 2013, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Location:Greenbelt Marriott 6400 Ivy Lane, Greenbelt Maryland 20770. Cost: $55.00

The AABC is brought to you by the Maryland Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives.

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The AABC is the premier event for the Asian American business community in Maryland. Its purpose is to facilitate networking and educate minority-owned business enterprises on various topics that will develop and grow their businesses. Another main objective is to enhance the relationships amongst the Asian American business community and all levels of government. A variety of Maryland and international firms will be represented at the conference, after a record-breaking attendance in 2012.